- Eurostat
The Statistical Office of the European Communities (Eurostat) is the
statistical arm of theEuropean Commission , producing data for theEuropean Union and promoting harmonisation of statistical methods across themember states of the European Union , with a seat in Luxembourg.Organisation
Eurostat is a General Service
Directorate-General of theEuropean Commission , headed by aDirector-General . Seven directors and a chief adviser are responsible for different sectors of Eurostat activities.Its current Director-General is
Walter Radermacher , former President of theFederal Statistical Office of Germany .Roles
Eurostat publishes economic statistics and statistics on economic and monetary convergence, trade statistics, business statistics, social and regional statistics, agricultural, environmental and energy statistics. The Eurostat Yearbook provides a wealth of harmonised and comparable data on the
European Union , theeuro zone and theEU Member States , with additional statistics related to major non-European countries.Three of its particularly significant roles are:
* producingmacroeconomic data which helps guide theEuropean Central Bank in its monetary policy for theeuro ,
* providing the data used for the [http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page?_pageid=2373,47631312,2373_58674381&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL Excessive Deficit Procedure] , and
* its regional data and classification (NUTS) which guide the EU's structural policies.[http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat Eurostat's website] offers free access to download nearly all of its data and electronic publications grouped into the following themes:
*General and regional statistics
*Economy and finance
*Population and social conditions
*Industry, trade and services
*Agriculture and fisheries
*External trade
*Transport
*Environment and energy
*Science and technologyThe paper versions of some publications are still priced and can be ordered via the [http://bookshop.europa.eu/ EU bookshop] .
Eurostat Scandal
In 2000, internal auditors raised concerns about Eurostat's contracts with outside companies and referred the matter to the European Anti-Fraud Office,
OLAF . OLAF did not react. In 2001,Paul Van Buitenen , whose earlier report had indirectly led to the resignation of the previous Commission, produced a second report, but this at first led to no action, untilHans-Martin Tillack and the press started to take interest in the matter. Questions were asked in theEuropean Parliament , OLAF produced a new report entitled " A vast enterprise for looting community funds" as it was reported byFinancial Times on May 16th 2003. Finally the Commission acted. Three senior Eurostat officials were removed from their posts and a number of contracts with outside companies were cancelled. [cite web | url = http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/tools_and_services/specials/article1162994.ece| title = Q&A: the Eurostat scandal | accessdate = 2008-06-11 | date = 2003-09-25 | work = Times Online | publisher = Times Newspapers Ltd.]It was alleged that, at least during the 1990s, Eurostat used a double accounting system to transfer large amounts of money to secret bank accounts not monitored by auditors and that the value of some contracts was inflated. Allegedly there was evidence of cronyisms and financial irregularities, though no evidence of personal enrichment was found. Between four and five million euros was thought to have been "siphoned off", mostly between 1996 and 2001. Some of the money was recovered. [cite web | url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3138390.stm| title = Q and A: Eurostat scandal | accessdate = 2008-06-11| date = 2003-09-27 | work = BBC News | publisher = BBC]
ee also
*
European Union
*European Commission
*Accountability in the European Union
*Eurobarometer
*Largest cities and metropolitan areas in the European Union (Eurostat) References
External links
* [http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat Eurostat]
* [http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/pls/portal/url/page/PGP_DS_YEARBOOK/PGE_DS_YEARBOOK_01 Eurostat yearbook]
* [http://www.bonde.com/index.phtml?sid=541&aid=15255 Responsibility and guilt in the Eurostat scandal] - MEPJens-Peter Bonde on the approval of the EU's accounts
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3135270.stm BBC : Prodi rules out EU resignations ] BBC 25 September 2003
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